


Bad Streak

by rosegoldwriting



Category: DCU (Comics), Grayson (Comics), Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Death Fix, M/M, Reunions, grayson comics and young justice take place in the same universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-01-27
Packaged: 2019-10-17 12:50:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17560712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosegoldwriting/pseuds/rosegoldwriting
Summary: "Dick has a pretty bad streak with death. His parents died, then his brother died, then his boyfriend died, and then his other brother died. And now he was dead. His first brother had come back to life, and so had his other brother. Oh, and Dick had too. Still waiting on the boyfriend though."In which Dick is dead, but not really. So is Wally.Except Dick doesn't know about the "not really" part.





	Bad Streak

Dick has a pretty bad streak with death. His parents died. Then his brother died. Then his boyfriend died. Then his other brother. And now he was dead. His first brother had come back to life, and so had his other brother. Oh, and Dick had too. Still waiting on the boyfriend though. Not really the parents anymore. Man, Dick’s life was messed up.

Anyways, Dick was “dead” as in still breathing, but with a grave behind the manor and no connections with anyone from his real life except his dad.

Wait, sorry. Bruce isn’t his dad. He has a dad. Well, he had one. He died.

Anyways! Dick had died, and then he was “dead”, and he went as undercover as you can possibly be in a spy organization that knows all your identities, secret or not. It was going okay. He had a partner whose assumedly tragic backstory he hadn’t unlocked yet, but he knew he was getting there. He missed being a hero and a police officer and Dick Grayson instead of Agent 37 or Idiot, as his new (regrettably one-sided) best friend had deemed him.

Basically, he missed his normal life. But life hadn’t really been normal since Wally didn’t come back from the Arctic. Bruce made him live at the manor for a while after that whole thing since apparently his grief was making him “a danger to himself”. Pfft. Yeah right.

Living with Bruce again got old quick, and he went back to his gig in Bludhaven. But the universe doesn’t seem to want Dick to have anything good, so then he got captured, and his identity gets revealed on a broadcast. Lex Luthor killed him to stop a bomb, Batman got pissed, but Luthor revived him. Obviously, he couldn't keep being Nightwing, so his only option was to convince all his close friends and family that he was really dead and infiltrate a spy organization. At least that’s what Bruce’s idea was.

Well, it sucked major ass, so Dick tried to go back home, but of course Bruce would have amnesia, and then Spyral would threaten him with exposing Batman’s secret identity if he didn’t come back in 24 hours. So he did. But not before making amends with his family that thought he was dead. Oh, and Damian had come back, so that was cool!

So yeah, life was wack. But it’s Dick Grayson, so naturally, his life would get wacker.

 

-

 

He and Tiger were good partners. Where Dick was chatty and heroic, Tiger had a stick up his ass and was morally gray enough to get the job done. Where Dick hated driving and preferred jumping off buildings, Tiger was there to drive when Dick didn’t want to and to remind him that he didn’t have a grappling hook anymore.

Dick’s time at Spyral was going great. Except for the part where he and Tiger were on the run from Spyral since they were sort-of-maybe trying to take it down now.

So, two stolen Hypnos, one hotwired car, and a few conversations about trust and teamwork later, Dick and Tiger were hitting the road away from Spyral. Hey, if there’s no more spy organization for him to infiltrate, maybe Dick could go home soon.

Tiger liked to drive in silence since it helped him see better. Dick did not subscribe to this idea, and repeatedly let Tony know that loud things don’t affect your sight while turning up the volume on the 80’s, 90’s and Now radio station he’d been trying to listen to for hours.

“Grayson. If I have to break this radio to get you to stop-”

“What am I supposed to do? You won’t have a conversation with me, and I can’t listen to the radio-”

“I’m sure you can find some way to entertain yourself. Go to sleep or-”

Talking over each other, swatting each other’s hands like children. It was almost like home.

The good-natured(?) bickering continued until the radio cut off in the middle of I Wanna Dance With Somebody and started gritting out static. Dick cringed as he turned the volume down, Tiger giving an approving huff. (Side-note: Dick was getting pretty good at deciphering Tiger’s huffs.)

Except the static didn’t get quieter.

“For the love- Grayson! Turn it off,” Tiger snapped.

“I’m trying!” The static grew louder, but it wasn’t straight static anymore. Dick could hear indescifrable fragments of words.

“I’m pulling over. It might be Spyral related.” Tiger pulled the car to the side of the road and tried turning the radio off himself.

“Oh yes, Tiger, please try fixing the problem by doing exactly what I just did. Maybe it only turns off when brooding-”

“Dick!” exclaimed a voice from the radio, clear as day, before fading back out into static.

Dick shut up immediately. Tiger’s hand shot away from the radio as if it had burned him.

“Did it just-” Dick started.

“Yes.” Tiger paused, and turned off the car. The static buzzed out. “We’re switching vehicles. It’s about time we did anyway.”

 

-

 

As Dick and Tiger continued their run from Spyral, it seemed no radio was safe, malfunctioning in their cars, in their hotel rooms, and even one unfortunate incident in the McDonald's drive-thru. Already anxiously avoiding Spyral agents, this understandably did not comfort the two.

Until one day it stopped.

They didn’t notice at first. Not until one of them mentioned offhandedly the lack of issues with radio frequencies. Cool.

Dick called Bruce.

Oh yeah, Bruce’s memories were back too.

“Dick.” Bruce sounded… winded? Rushed? Like Dick had interrupted something important?

“Hello to you too,” Dick laughed. “I just wanted to let you know that the, uh, radio problems stopped. In case you were still worried about it.”

Bruce eloquently hummed out an acknowledgement.

“Are you… okay?” Dick ventured.

“Yes. Are you?”

“Never better. We’re out of the country. Gonna make some plans, get some locations, and then take some names.”

“Good, good.”

“... Well, uh. How’s the family?”

“Fine. You’re missed.”

Dick smiled and huffed out a laugh. “They’re missed too. Anything exciting happening?”

“No.” 

“Okay. Good talk.”

Bruce sighed. “Goodnight, Dick. Be safe.”

“Will do, B. Night.”

 

-

 

Dick gasped awake, choking on Wally’s name. His rubbed his bleary eyes until they focused. Of course, they focused on Tiger eyeing him over a bowl of cereal.

“Are you alright?” Tiger asked.

Dick stuck a smile on his face. “You know, there was a time when you would have just ignored me and my obvious emotional problems,” he rasped.

“I can still do that if you want to keep avoiding my questions.” Tiger lowered his cereal to the grimy kitchen counter of this evening’s hotel of choice. He crossed his arms and leaned against it, tilting his head. “Who is Wally?”

Dick’s smile twitched. “No one.”

“Mhm.”

“No one that I want to talk about.”

“That seems more likely. This ‘Wally’ obviously isn’t no one to you.”

Dick’s twitching smile faltered before falling off his face completely. He sighed. “Why are you eating cereal at-” he squinted at the bright red numbers of the alarm clock- “two in the morning?”

Tiger stared at Dick’s messy hair and droopy eyes for a few seconds before saying, “You aren’t the only one who has lost someone. It keeps me up at night, just like you.”

Dick’s eyes fell to the scratchy quilt he had found himself tangled in. He pulled at some of the loose threads as Tiger resumed his meal. 

After a period of not very comfortable silence, Dick conceded, “Wally was the last Kid Flash.” His voice was still scratchy from sleep. “During the Reach invasion, he. Well. Nobody’s really sure on the details, but he had been having problems with his speed, and when he was running, he just. Stopped existing? Or something. He just… ceased.” 

Tiger nodded, but said nothing.

“We had been together since we were teenagers. It was a few years ago, and I like to think that it doesn’t affect me as much as it used to. But nights like these.” Dick stopped, remembering to breathe. “I don’t know,” he eloquently concluded.

Dick’s gaze shifted from his lap to the ceiling, feeling a familiar burning in his eyes. “Man,” he laughed, “hopefully you’re not a double double-agent, waiting to tell all my secrets to some other spy organization I don’t know about.”

“You have nothing to worry about,” Tiger consoled. He paused before continuing, “Dick Grayson.” Dick hummed in response. “You are a good person and a good hero even though you’ve lost much. I am… grateful… to be taking down Spyral with someone I know that I can trust.”

“Am I dreaming? Or did you just compliment me?” Dick’s gaze shifted again to see a small smile on Tiger’s face. “Oh, and you’re smiling too. This definitely isn’t real.”

The smile was cleanly wiped from Tiger’s face as he deadpanned, “Go to sleep, Grayson.”

“Am I still an idiot? Or do you trust me too much?”

Tiger didn’t grace him with an answer.

 

-

 

Paris was bustling. Which is great when you’re an ex-superhero turned spy turned not-spy with a brooding, yet devastatingly handsome sidekick. Super incognito.

Dick and Tiger hurried down the street. In the spirit of double-agenting, Matron had hooked them up with some locations of international Spyral HQ’s which they were going to promptly shut down and totally steal from. All in the spirit of taking down Spyral, of course.

Both had their Hypnos up and running, disguising their faces to anyone or anything that might pick them up. Dick had the GPS on his phone giving them directions.

“Take a slight right onto-”

“Grayson, turn that off!”

Dick frowned and turned off his phone. “It’s convenient.”

“Yes, it’s very convenient for the entire population of Paris to know the directions to a top secret location-”

“Nobody is listening, T! Nobody even notices us here-” Dick cut himself off when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

He tensed immediately, preparing himself for a fight he didn’t realize was going to come so soon. He turned around and-

“Oh,” said Wally West.

“Oh,” gasped Dick.

Wally’s hand dropped from his shoulder. He laughed awkwardly. “Sorry,” he said. “You looked like someone I know.”

Dick wanted to cry. He wanted to laugh. He wanted to wake up from what was obviously a dream. A nightmare? He really wanted to turn off his Hypnos.

His hand twitched towards the tech in his eye disguising his face from the love of his life. He decided he couldn’t be dreaming when he felt Tiger’s tight grip on his wrist. He hissed and whipped his head around to face Tiger, who quickly explained to Wally, “I’m sorry, he doesn’t speak English. Excuse us.” 

Dick started to say something, but it turned very quickly into a sob. Tiger shook his head once and started dragging Dick away.

Wally West was slowly lost in the crowd, disappearing from Dick’s sight as if it was the Arctic all over again.

Tiger pulled the two of them into an alley. He gripped Dick’s forearms, commanding him to breathe. Dick continued to sob dryly. Eventually, Tiger’s calm, monotonous insistence to breathe, breathe, breathe overcame Dick’s scattered emotions. He breathed. 

“Do you realize what you were about to do?” Tiger asked, dropping Dick’s arms. He folded his own across his chest.

Dick glared halfheartedly at the wall of the alley behind Tiger, still breathing slowly. “Yes.”

“Do you realize how close we are to defeating Spyral?”

“Yes.”

“If you had given up your identity right then, you could have jeopardized the whole mission. I told you that I trusted you, Grayson.”

“I don’t want to hear it.” Dick attempted to push past Tiger and head back to the street, but Tiger’s grip stopped him again. Tiger whirled Dick around, so they were face to face again.

“You’re going to hear it,” Tiger growled out.

Dick pushed his grip off before pointing an accusatory finger at his chest. “You don’t even know what just happened!”

“You thought you knew him! He looked like someone from your old life. From your _hero_ life. You were willing to jeopardize our mission because all you wanted was to tell him you were alive. That could have been a Spyral agent using Hypos-”

“It was Wally.”

Tiger’s face softened in surprise before he caught himself and schooled it into careful indifference. “I thought you said he-”

“That’s what I thought too. But then he just appeared again, and, oh God, I just wanted nothing more than to just-” Dick’s breathing quickened again and he squeezed his eyes shut. “I guess he came back from the dead which happens a lot more than you might think! And now he has no idea where I am. I’m sure Bruce didn’t tell him.” Dick paused, eyes widening before narrowing into a glare. “Bruce.”  

Tiger’s hand landed on his shoulder, a comforting weight. “He knows that Wally is alive. And he didn’t tell you.”

Dick made another attempt to slide past Tiger. “I’m going to-”

Tiger stopped him again. “You’re not going to do anything to him until we take down this Spyral base.”

“And then after that?”

“Matron’s next mission for us is a base in America. You can confront him then.”

 

-

 

Dick sat in the chair of the Batcomputer, spinning occasionally and throwing things at Tiger not-so-occasionally. They were waiting, which happens to not be one of Dick’s strong suits.

The pen that came flying towards Tiger was easily caught.

“Woah,” said Dick.

“Try that one more time,” Tiger began, “and you won’t be faking your death anymore.”

“Wow, T, it’s been awhile since you’ve actually threatened my life. I thought we were friends?”

“We’re not.”

“But you said you trusted me!”

“I regret it every day.”

Their bickering ended when a familiar vehicle screeched into the Batcave. Dick slipped the flash drive he was “borrowing” into his pocket and stood.

“Richard.” Damian’s greeting seemed indifferent, but Dick saw his smile.

“Hey, Robin!” Dick grinned.

“Dick,” Bruce greeted him with mostly concealed surprise. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, you know, I was in the neighborhood.” Dick nodded towards Tiger. “Thought I’d give T a grand tour of the Batcave.”

Even though his face was covered by his cowl, Dick could tell the exact moment Bruce’s face changed from surprise to anger. The glare was promptly leveled on Dick, then Tiger, then back to Dick. Tiger shifted uncomfortably.

“You brought a spy into the Batcave?” Bruce’s voice was cold. 

“Yep,” said Dick, popping the ‘p’. “Kind of like when I snuck Wally into the Batcave on my birthday. Remember that? You were so pissed. Good times.”

Bruce froze. Dick turned to face him.

“Speaking of Wally.”

He fished the flash drive out of his pocket and threw it full-force at Bruce, who barely caught it.

“Dick-”

“Bruce, what the hell?”

“Listen-”

“Did you really think I wouldn’t find out?”

“Nightwing-”

“How could you keep this from me? You know what he means to me, and now he’s somewhere out there looking for me even though I’m-”

“Dick!” Batman shouted.

Dick shut his mouth and glared. Bruce huffed in irritation before addressing Damian. “Robin, please take Agent 1 _outside_. He shouldn’t be here.”

“Father-”

“ _Damian.”_  

Damian’s eyes rolled under his mask as he moved to lead Tiger away. Tiger raised an eyebrow at the kid before uncrossing his arms and following.

As they left, Bruce took off his cowl. The two heroes eyed each other for a moment before Bruce said, “You know you shouldn’t have brought him here. You know the security risk that poses.”

“I know I shouldn’t have. That’s why I did.”

Bruce let out a breath before biting the bullet. “Dick, I’m sorry.”

Dick shook his head in unbelief. “You’re _sorry?_ I’ve been cut off from my friends and my family for months. All of my friends think I’m dead after they already lost Wally, and now he thinks I’m dead too.”

“He doesn’t. He knows you’re alive and undercover.”

Dick paused his angry pacing. “What?”

“I told him. I know you think I’m irredeemably cruel, but I know how much you mean to each other.”

“Oh, do you? Is that why you didn’t tell me that he was alive? Did you know when I called you?” Dick asked accusingly.

Bruce paused. “Yes.”

Dick scoffed and rolled his eyes. “I can’t believe you.”

“It was for the good of your mission. I knew this is exactly what would happen-”

“Fuck the mission, Bruce! That’s not what this is about!”

Bruce’s flinch was barely visible, but Dick saw it. They stood in silence for a moment, Dick’s shoulders heaving as his breathing began to slow again. There was a familiar burning in his eyes. That seemed to be happening a lot lately.

“At least tell me what happened,” he muttered.

Bruce’s eyes flicked up to Dick’s again for a moment before focusing back on the ground. “Those electrical surges that you called me about… they were happening in Gotham and Bludhaven before they got to you. I knew it wasn’t Spyral because they started before you betrayed their organization. When you called me about it, I knew it was something, or some _one,_ looking for you. A few weeks later, Wally West appeared at Star Labs in Central City. The electrical surges weren’t electricity; it was Speed Force energy, where Wally has been trapped running for years.”

“The Speed Force is a place? I thought it was just a... force.”

“It’s an extra-dimensional space that gives speedsters their speed. In fact, Wally came back from the Speed Force faster than before. Running doesn’t hurt him anymore.”

Dick’s heart ached.

This is what Wally had wanted for years. He thought of sleepless nights where Wally confided in him, telling Dick about his pain and his fears as he slowly lost his speed. And now when Wally had it all back, he didn’t have Dick.

And Dick didn’t have him either. 

Dick didn’t realize he was crying until he felt Bruce’s hand on his shoulder. He hated Bruce so much in this moment. He didn’t know if he wanted to punch him in his cowl or be wrapped in a hug.

The latter won as Bruce shifted to hold Dick as Dick’s quiet tears became heaving sobs. Again, seemed to be happening a lot lately.

“I’m sorry,” Dick could hear Bruce softly whispering. “I’m sorry for making you infiltrate Spyral. I’m sorry for making you lie to people you love. I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you tried to come back. I’m sorry-”

Bruce continue to softly apologize and hold him as Dick calmed. When Dick was breathing normal again, Bruce said, “Wally knew you were in Paris. He made Tim find out where you were and snuck out of Star Labs to come find you.”

Dick laughed, wiping at his eyes. “Yeah, that sounds about right.”

Bruce held him by the shoulders, eyeing him warily. “Do you still want to continue your mission?”

Dick nodded. “I hate this mission, but I’m not going to leave it unfinished. Besides, Tiger trusts me now.” He made to leave, but Bruce grabbed his arm.

“I should have told you as soon as he returned,” he said. “I know I am in the wrong here. I tried to make excuses, but I know.”

Dick smiled faintly. “Yeah. Thank you.” He didn’t forgive Bruce yet, but he could accept his apology. They were far and few between. “Has Wally come back yet, or is he still roaming Paris?”

“We don’t know where he is,” Bruce sighed.

 

-

  


So, the whole American Spyral base take-down thing was going great. Except for the part where Dick and Tiger were tied up back to back on the ground of a warehouse. Which would be no problem for the Acrobat Wonder except for the part where some guy had been giving a villain speech about Spyral for like. Twenty minutes now. If only Dick was untied so he could bang his head against the ground.

It was about the third time the guy said that “reality is an elaborate deception” that Dick finally had enough. He groaned dramatically and gently knocked his head on the back of Tiger’s to see if he was conscious or not. Tiger’s huff replied, “Don’t do that again.” Dick was so good at translating.

Spyral guy stopped his speech. “Excuse me?”

“I’m just bored out of my mind! I haven’t sat through a speech like this since I still wore the spandex,” Dick moaned. 

Spyral guy grinned and took Dick’s jaw in his hand. Dick smiled sweetly in return. “Well, if you’re bored, we can surely find some way to entertain you!”

Dick couldn’t see Tiger’s face, but he was pretty sure there was some eye-rolling happening. “Grayson,” he warned.

“Oh come on, Tony. Don’t act like you weren’t bored too!”

Spyral guy whistled for one of his goons (great word- been awhile since Dick’s fought some grade-A goons). The goon approached, cracking his knuckles.

(“That’s a little cliche.” -Dick)

(“Grayson. Shut up.” -Tiger)

The goon reached for the gun strapped to his belt.

An arrow shot straight through his hand.

“Oh,” said Dick.

Spyral guy (man, Dick really needed to learn this guy’s name) roughly released Dick’s face. “Capes,” he growled out. He whirled around to face Dick. “I thought you weren’t one of those anymore.” 

Dick shrugged. “I’ll always be a hero.”

Miss Martian materialized and sent a door flying off its hinges towards Spyral guy (Dick guessed finding out his name probably wasn’t important anymore). Dick looked to the rafters and spotted Tigress stashing her crossbow.  

Then a yellow streak barrelled through the door.

“ _Oh._ ”

He vaguely noticed Superboy following behind, but all he could see was _yellow_.

He heard Miss Martian untying Tiger and telling him, “It’s okay, we’re here to help you,” as if comforting a child instead of a dangerous operative raised in the war-torn streets of Kandahar.

The yellow streak stopped in front of Dick. “Hey,” said Wally West. His eyes widened under his goggles. “Hey, you’re the guy from-”

“Wally,” Dick gasped, disengaging Hypnos. Wally’s hands faltered on DIck’s binds.

“ _Dick?_ ” Before he knew it, Wally had untied Dick and pulled him off the concrete floor into his arms. 

He was so warm. And so real. And so _Wally._  

“I thought you were in Europe. What are you doing here?” Wally mumbled into his hair.

“I thought _you_ were in Europe. What are _you_ doing here?” Dick murmured against his neck.

“Batman asked the Team to take down this Spyral base."

(Of course he would, Dick thought. His own strange way of making amends.)

“Hey, that’s _my_ job,” Dick laughed. He lifted his face out of Wally’s neck. “I can’t believe you’re here.”

Wally smiled at him. “I’ve been trying to find you for weeks.”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you came back. I shouldn’t have-”

Wally cut Dick off with a small kiss. “Hey, it’s okay.” Dick did not hesitate before pulling Wally right back in, hands fisted in his familiar uniform. Wally’s hands pulled Dick closer until they were touching in every way possible, melding into one shape. Dick could feel Wally’s grin as he kissed him more, more, more.

Until interrupted by a loud, “Dick!?”

Dick and Wally broke apart quickly. Oh yeah, Dick was supposed to be dead.

“Surprise?” Dick laughed.

M’Gann instantly rushed to envelope him in a hug, Conner and Artemis trailing behind her.

“Kinda copying my whole ‘fake death’ thing. Not cool, Boy Wonder,” Artemis said, smiling.  

“Sorry,” Dick said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Desperate times, and all that. I didn’t want to. You’re taking the news better than I thought you would.” 

“Wally told us as soon as he found out,” said Conner.

“Hey! You were supposed to pretend you didn’t know,” whined Wally. “Fake death, real death, whatever. The important thing is that we’re back together,” he continued, throwing an arm around Dick’s shoulders.

“Yeah,” Dick grinned, reaching up to clutch onto Wally’s arm, “we are.”

“Yeah, yeah, more importantly,” Artemis said, pointing a thumb at Tiger, “ _who_ is your friend, Dick?”

“Oh, that’s just Tony.”

“That is _not_ my name, Grayson. And we are not friends.” Except Tiger’s huff this time had a hint of contentment and maybe even… happiness? They were _so_ friends.

 

-

 

So maybe Dick did have a pretty bad streak with death. His parents died. Then his brother died. Then his boyfriend died. Then his other brother. And then Dick died. His first brother had come back to life, and so had the other brother. His boyfriend was back, and Dick was no longer “dead”. So maybe he had a pretty good streak with life too.

Man, Dick’s life was messed up, but it had a funny way of fixing itself.

**Author's Note:**

> hey kiddies thanks for reading! i've had this idea for a while since death/fake death/coming back to life happens a lot in dc. 
> 
> i'm not super active on my tumblr, but if you ever want to check it out its @fukurodarcy! i have my dc sideblog linked there as well. 
> 
> hope you enjoyed! comments, kudos, and all other feedback is certainly appreciated! also dick and tiger best friends for life


End file.
